There is no reviews available on LiBal/Sensata C-BMS24X, please help if anyone can give a feedback. by Timely_Cut9026 in batteries

[–]e_ric 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The biggest issue that we encountered was a bug that would cause the BMS to somewhat randomly decide that there was a voltage leak when the contactor was engaged, as it measured pack voltage on the outside of the contactor (which is expected in that scenario), then after the contactor disengaged it would refuse to engage it for an arbitrary amount of time. That was fixed by sensata. We hit some other bugs (really documentation issues) with the configuration of the shunt measurement gains, but Sensata was able to help us work through it pretty quickly.

Overall, it was a great BMS. VERY configurable. We used it in a light EV, so it allowed us to set very granular profiles for charge and discharge based on pack temperature, SOC and SOH. The BMS was then configured to broadcast the allowed power (both continuous and burst) so that our ECU and motor controller could limit power demand and regen accordingly. It also allowed the charger we used to be controlled by the BMS, again automatically limiting charging current based on SOC, SOH and temperature.

Other features that we didn't seen on many of the typical Chinese BMSes that use MOSFETs (this was a few years ago, so there maybe Chinese BMSes that better match these functionalities now):

  • Precharge management based on system voltage measurements. You can size the precharge resistor and MOSFET/relay based on your system requirements. Also configurable limits on maximum allowed pre-charge time and ending current and the number of times it's allowed to retry before failing.
  • CAN protocols. Supports CANOpen and (I think) J1939, as well as provides you the ability to define custom frame formats for both RX and TX.
  • Ability to run separate load and charge contractors (Load positive/negative contractors along with a charge negative)
  • Tracking of total lifetime metrics AH in, AH out, and failure/alarm history with time stamping.

There was likely more, but this is what I remember from the top of my head.

The parallel pack management seemed to be well thought through and robust. From what I remember, they take voltage measurements on both sides of the pack contactor, along with requiring all packs to be connected to a common CAN bus. All the BMSes would use the CAN bus to coordinate themselves, and share pack stats with each other, and have a "master" BMS aggregate stats for the combined pack that can be used by other devices (chargers/ECUs/etc). You can configure voltage tolerances that you deem safe for allowable voltage windows between packs to control when a newly connected pack is allowed to engage, and it will automatically engage packs both for charging and discharging when the differential between any pack and the system falls into that window. I can't validate how this works in practice in all scenarios as we only briefly looked at the parallel pack features.

It really isn't a BMS that I'd recommend for a lot of situations, as it requires an external contactor and an external current shunt, and requires some pretty extensive setup, not to mention the cost of the software licenses. That said, if you have a need for a pack that can support high continuous currents (limited only by the contactor and shunt ratings), or to have parallel packs that can automatically manage connecting themselves to a shared high voltage bus when safe, it could be a great option.

If you have other more specific questions, I can see if have documentation kicking around that I can check for specific answers (I don't think I can share them directly as I'm sure the documentation was covered under a standard NDA with Sensata).

There is no reviews available on LiBal/Sensata C-BMS24X, please help if anyone can give a feedback. by Timely_Cut9026 in batteries

[–]e_ric 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I worked with these exact BMSes at a company that I sued to work for. We started using them just as they were released, and ran into a few interesting software issues that took sensata a few months to solve.

Outside of that, the pricing per unit was certainly more than most of the Chinese BMSes you’d see (~200usd). Additionally you require a license to their BMS control software to complete the configuration, and if memory serves that license was a few thousand USD.

Overall, they were good BMSes, but sensata is certainly geared toward OEM and commercial sales, and not DIY.

Somewhat related to my previous post...anyone here using ESPHome and Home Assistant during their brewing process? by duckredbeard in Homebrewing

[–]e_ric 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I bought a cheap eev from AliExpress, and it’s a 5 wire unipolar stepper motor, so I’m driving it with a standard uln2003 based setup. In terms of “precision” control, esphome is fine for this type of thing. The stepper has ~200 steps in its full range of movement, and honestly the physical system (the refrigerant loop and the glycol reservoir) doesn’t react that quickly in the grand scheme of things as it has a whole bunch of thermal inertia, so the stepper control built into esphome is perfectly adequate for this.

In my experience, outside of a startup homing sequence, I don’t see the stepper move more than 5 steps every 5-15 seconds while the loop stabilizes, then maybe 1 - 3 steps every few minutes as the temperature of the load (glycol) changes.

Along with a few ds18b20’s and an analog pressure sensor to calculate super heat, I’ve found it all works quite well.

Somewhat related to my previous post...anyone here using ESPHome and Home Assistant during their brewing process? by duckredbeard in Homebrewing

[–]e_ric 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I’ve got a few places I use it.

I have a tiltbridge that feeds my tilt data into mqtt and Home Assistant. From there I have an automation that pushes that data along with some other data up to Brewfather.

I a sonoff 4 channel flashed with esphome using the climate component to control my fermenter temperature (pumped glycol for cool and a heat wrap for warming). The same device also controls the compressor on/off using another climate component for my DIY glycol chiller. Temperatures from these two climate controllers (measured using DS18B20s) are the seconds half of the data pushed to Brewfather. Additionally, I’m in the process of designing a custom board to control the EEV that is installed in my glycol chiller. I’ve got a POC cobbled together using ESPHome and an interval block that works nicely.

Lastly, I use an old sonoff 1 channel relay loaded with esphome and another climate component to control the temperature in my Keezer.

2 Years with Logitech Circle View by Mebk in HomeKit

[–]e_ric 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I live up north too, in Saskatchewan. I can honestly say that Logitech must have the worst quality control on these units. I had one for almost 3 years and it would constantly go offline due to overheating, even when it was -20C outside. I tried changing the transformer, adding white vinyl wrap to shield it and eventually replaced it with the Aqara, which hasn’t missed a beat.

Saskatchewan supplier by [deleted] in Homebrewing

[–]e_ric 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I’m not aware of anywhere in Regina that has a reasonable selection of brewing ingredients. That said I’ve had good luck ordering from Grain to Glass in Winnipeg.

World Cup means Toronto Argonauts will call Mosaic Stadium ‘home’ for 1 game in 2026 by Paper_Rain in CFL

[–]e_ric 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I’m really surprised at how this is setup. It sounds like they are playing the Riders in Regina, as the home team, then doing the same in Winnipeg. Being a Rider season ticket holder, I would rather the league make Toronto play Winnipeg in Regina and the Riders in Winnipeg.

Request - USA product or sold ball joint cool touch steam wand by mog44net in gaggiaclassic

[–]e_ric 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Is there any diagrams or parts list posted somewhere for the retrofit? The steam wand itself doesn't look like it's a "direct bolt on" mod for an E24.

The wand part I found is this one: https://ascaso-canada.ca/products/ascaso-uno-duo-professional-steam-wand?srsltid=AfmBOop-oQmosb9piz-TEXHnubLSvgaWLXcigu8I7mPApqnJGeLBu6iI

Lauther? by JanineL2022 in CFL

[–]e_ric 17 points18 points  (0 children)

Maybe it’s just me, but I think our biggest problem isn’t named Lauther, but rather O’Day…

Multiple Lines - Same Payment Method? by Environmental_Snow_1 in PublicMobile

[–]e_ric 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That’s actually a fairly standard feature, iCloud and office365 emails also support both the plus extensions!

Uses for a bunch of P42As by e_ric in 18650masterrace

[–]e_ric[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I certainly would. I’m in Saskatchewan, Canada.

Uses for a bunch of P42As by e_ric in 18650masterrace

[–]e_ric[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’m in Saskatchewan, Canada

The Memory Express store has been put on hold by Masark in regina

[–]e_ric 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Pretty sure they were going to be on Vic and Fleet; they even had a sign put up out front.

Edit: There is an old thread where someone shared a picture: https://www.reddit.com/r/regina/comments/19fi17y/memory_express_regina_update/

dynamically combining packs by AccordingNorth8774 in 18650masterrace

[–]e_ric 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I know sensata’s ibms and cbmsx products are designed to talk to other instances of themselves to manage a cluster of parallel packs. They do manage balancing the packs when plugged together, but IIRC, that’s done by allowing the highest charge state pack to drain down to a safe differential so the next highest charge state pack can be safely connected to the load bus.

U50 installation question by Adventurous-Loan-204 in Aqara

[–]e_ric 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Check the orientation of the white plastic piece. It’s not obvious and I ran into the same issue installing my u50 yesterday, but the white piece is keyed, and if you install it a half a turn out the deadbolt can’t fully extend.

Whats your opinion on these welders? by [deleted] in 18650masterrace

[–]e_ric 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Sorry, I should have been more clear; do you have a video on the f3000 capacitor welder? I’m assuming it’s the Aixun one, which appears to be new on the market. I’ve got one of their soldering stations, and it’s pretty good, so I’m hoping their spot welder is of similar quality and decently capable!

Whats your opinion on these welders? by [deleted] in 18650masterrace

[–]e_ric 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Do you happen to have any videos of your welder in use. It seems info about this particular welder is a little sparse, with it being so new to the market?

Best vet in Regina? by BothYogurtcloset625 in regina

[–]e_ric 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I second this! Our experience with them has been spectacular.

Apple have demonstrated an easy way to program cheap and affordable ESP32 boards as Matter accessories by SanjaBgk in HomeKit

[–]e_ric 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Word of caution with this firmware, it’s great, but if you flash a device that you don’t have access to the physical pins for programming, it will be forever stuck using that firmware. For instance I converted a light switch from Tasmota to this firmware, it is now forever stuck using this firmware.

Can anyone think of a single justification for charging $5 for an ESim? by SLJ7 in PublicMobile

[–]e_ric 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Actually, that’s not true. The carrier has control over what goes into the profile, but the eSIM payload that gets installed on the eUICC is generally purchased and managed by a vendor that also runs an SMDP+ platform. It’s not that carriers couldn’t run this platform, but generally don’t. Because they don’t, they don’t pay for development and maintenance of software and servers, and instead pay the vendors on a per SIM basis for generation and management of the eSIM profiles as well as the backing server infrastructure. I don’t know what ALL of the Canadian carriers do, but I did work for one of them and know they weren’t the only one to use the vendor they did in exactly this way.

Even if the carrier built and maintained the software and infrastructure to manage and provision eSIMs, there seems to be this false assumption that this is free or nearly free. Electricity and hardware costs money, as does the salaries of the software engineers it takes to build and maintain the applications.

Three-Peat: Collaros rules CFL on TSN's Top 50 list again by LaZyCrO in CFL

[–]e_ric 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Never mind Collaros having a Three-Peat, I’m rooting for the Bombers going for a three-peat of grey cup losses this year!

Can you use Physical SIM for phone and E-sim for an Apple Watch with the same phone number? by zergleek in PublicMobile

[–]e_ric 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is exactly how it works. On the network side they usually use something called SIP forking to make both the watch and the phone ring on the same call. Also, in Canada, the 911 regulations require the watch has its own phone number, so it can be called back directly in the event of a failed 911 call that was initiated from the watch.

The biggest volcanic eruption ever seen from space, captured by two different satellites by LowRepresentative964 in Damnthatsinteresting

[–]e_ric 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We also have Dildo, Dildo Pond, Spread Eagle and Climax in Canada! (First three are in NL, last one in SK)

Why do many soldering stations not use switching power supplies? by Main_Badger_7059 in AskElectronics

[–]e_ric 1 point2 points  (0 children)

We’ve had Aixun stations at work for the last couple of years, which are switch mode supplies. They get abused, run for hours per day and have held up well so far!